well, first of all i would say a huuuuuuge thank you, as elijah's daily routine is loads better than before
and secondly, i'm looking for a bit of advice about naps

elijah has been sleeping particularly badly at night, up 8-12 times, but i think this is an adjustment period as we have started some new things and he is still getting used to crawling/standing/having teeth/just been poorly, so i'm not too worried about that.

BUT (of course, a but haha) he seems to want 3 naps a day just now - what do you reckon? should i go with it and see if its temporary (i think he is growing too as he is eating LOADS - see weaning post haha).

here is his routine now:

8.30 up and cuddles

9.30 brekkie then playtime

10.30ish bf and naptime (normally half an hour to an hour)

1pm lunchtime and more play/going out time

3ish bf and naptime (normally 1 hours to 2 hours)

5.30 teatime and playtime

7pm bedtime routine (!) bath, stories etc in bedroom then bf and bed about 8pm or thereabouts as soon as eli is sleepy.


now this has been working really well, and seems to meet elijah's natural rhythm quite well - his meals take about 30-45 minutes (ahh finger food ) so he is quite busy most of the time.

the past few days he has been wiped out by 2pm and wants to sleep for an hour, then tired again about 4.30 and wants to sleep an hour - so is missing his afternoon nap but effectively splitting it into two because he can't last any longer...any ideas? should i leave it this way (i can't get him to sleep any longer in either nap) or should i try and stick to what we have up there ^

sorry i know this is another massive post hopefully someone will be kind enough to have a read and see what they think!

Is he still settling well at 8pm even though he getting the hr a bit later on?

That usual daytime routine is similar to Caitlins routine now excpept she skips the morning nap and just goes down at 2/3pm ish for cpl hrs without milk.

At Elijahs age Caitlin would have still been having 2 naps a day but they def werent routined (somedays 2, others 3 and on rare occassions 1 and tended to be just when she looked tired/fell asleep in pram etc). I think Caitlin and elijah are quite similar babies as she was/is a frequent night time waker (though thankfully in recent months she just chats to herself like a loon), and I too was up until about 10-midnight for the first 5 months (I never understood how people managed to get tiny babies to bed by 7pm and do dreamfeeds - though to be fair I didnt really try to hard lol)

If he still going off to bed and staying there for 11/12 hrs at night I wouldnt worry about an extra nap. As for waking 8-12 times poor you! The only tips I have there are a familiar teddy/comfort blanket, 7 dummys in the cot for luck lol and a lullaby machine that you play before bed and then eventually they learn to turn on themselves in the night and becomes a sleep cue. (Though as he in same room as you all this will prob disturb you anyways!)

Quote :

Is he still settling well at 8pm even though he getting the hr a bit later on?

i would say so (better really, but i think that is the bedtime routine starting to work) the past two nights he's been asleep before 8pm - this is a baby that didn't go to bed before midnight/11pm until he was 8 months!

he's getting up about half 8 just now, but i don't set an alarm or anything he just wakes me up so i guess its a 'normal' amount for him (with or without being up i don't think he wakes properly most times cos he seems much more rested than me!)

we have just started pixel's recommendation - the no cry sleep solution, so we will see how that goes - it's made a difference already and specifically it's to help me put him to bed and keep him there rather than sitting all night with a baby on my boob - so the wakings are a protest against that i think haha

ho hum, i will just see how his naps go, he might just be changing his mind now that he is on his feet all day! i will just take his lead then if you don't think it sounds like too much (tbh i quite enjoy an hour sitting with him, cos he still naps on me, it's my only tv time! )

alfie has about 3 naps a day. he only naps abut 40 mins at a time. he tends to sleep about 9.30/10 again at 2.30ish and then at 5. i only let him have half an hour at 5 tho and he still goes down fine at 7 and sleeps through. i say keep going as u are mari. well done for trying to sort his routine out - sounds like you are doing fabby!!! x

Its hard, as every baby is different.

I used to always make sure that Aimee didnt nap after 4pm, as she would go to bed at 7pm.

It may be worth putting him to bed a little earlier, say 7.30pm, as it may also help him not waking up at night.

We had to bring Aimee's forward to 7pm as she started waking in the night and I read online that you can prevent if if you bring their sleep forward.

x

I think if he sitll goes to bed at 8 and still "sleeps through" till the morning then stick with it. We found that the more we pushed Tyler into a routine the harder it became... we stuck with the bed time routine and let him guide us the rest of the day. at the moment we're on holiday and it's obviously making him sleepy, he is having 2 good naps a day sometimes sleeping till 5 but he will still go to bed fine at 7 so im just letting him guide me.